Come And Get Your Love
by HeadWitchInCharge
Summary: Throughout the years, Embry Call has watched his pack brothers experience the highs and lows of imprinting. He thinks that he's content as he is, but he's about to get his world turned upside down. Can he show his imprint that they can have their happily ever after? Embry/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Welcome to my story! I've been reading a lot of imprint fics and just had to get this version of Embry that I saw out of my head. I hope you like this, it's my first story. Please review with any helpful comments! I do not own Twilight or any of its characters, I'm just borrowing some characters and story lines.**

Chapter 1 - Olivia's POV

The bell above the door rang for the umpteenth time in the last half hour. I was just about ready to rip the damn thing from the wall and throw it into the dumpster out back. I blew a few strands of baby hair from my eyes and plastered a fake smile onto my face as I turned to greet the newest customers.

It seemed that the thunderstorm rolling in was causing people to duck in from the streets into any kind of shelter they saw available. Unfortunately for me, this was all going on during what was supposed to be the slowest hour in the rustic diner I worked in. We weren't scheduled with enough staff to handle this rush of customers and I was beyond frustrated.

Megan was the only other server on the floor with me and we were doing our best to keep customers happy and drinks refilled. I made eye contact with her and we exchanged small smiles. Thank goodness that we both happened to be scheduled for this shift together. I hated to think of the mess we'd be in if a newer server was here tonight. Meg and I were pretty good at handling multiple tables and had been working here long enough to be familiar with every aspect of the menu. We also had a great system of helping each other's tables with small things they needed like condiments or extra napkins.

When I stepped into the kitchen, I cringed a little as the only manager on duty, who was pretty grumpy most nights to start with, started yelling at the only cook that we had working right now. With the orders coming in faster than they could get the food out, the tension was rising like the temperature of the kitchen. I quickly grabbed plates of food to run out with so I could avoid the confrontation that I could feel would begin soon.

The only silver lining in this horrific raincloud was the amount of pity tips I was receiving. Seeing me rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off apparently made people feel extra bad for me. I could use the extra cash so I wasn't about to try and convince anyone otherwise.

Finally, after about an hour and a half of more chaos, the dinner shift employees started trickling in. As soon as another server came in and took my spot on the floor, I took that opportunity to escape to the back and sit down for the first time in hours. I propped the back door open to let some cooler air flow in the little break room. I started pulling at my shirt hoping that some of my sweat would dry off sooner than later. I idly noticed that the storm was beginning to clear up.

All of a sudden, Meg came swinging through the break room door with enough force to slam it open against the wall and then right back at her again. Thankfully she threw her hand up in time to stop it from breaking her nose. I closed my eyes, not all that concerned; Meg was a pretty loud person and was always making some kind of commotion.

She plopped down on the plastic chair next to me. "Remind me to skip work next time it's supposed to rain."

"It's basically always supposed to rain. We live in Washington, you'd never show up to work again."

She let out a dramatic sigh and propped her feet up onto the only other chair left. "I need to blow this popsicle stand and move to Hawaii or something." I snorted trying to think of my super pale friend hiding under palm trees in Hawaii trying to avoid any kind of sun burn. As if she knew what I was thinking, she just gave me a tired shove and retorted, "Okay fine, but we do really need to at least find new jobs. My back is killing me."

I thought of the pain in my own back and knees. It would be nice to be able to do something a little less physically strenuous, but I just didn't have the means to pay for school without this job. I attended Port Angeles Community College part time trying to earn my degree; I would have attended full time, but I needed those other hours for work. It wasn't as expensive as a regular four year university would have been, but it was still money that I didn't have just laying around anywhere.

I chuckled and stood up hearing my ankles pop with the movement. "A new job would be a dream, but unfortunately we're stuck in reality for the moment." I moved to close the back door again. "Come on, let's get back out there and hopefully the rest of the night flies by."

Megan held her arms out and wiggled her fingers at me. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed her hands and pulled her up onto her feet. Linking her arm with mine, Meg said "I hope you're right Liv, I can't wait to just go home already!" With that, we both trudged back to the dining room.

I couldn't wait either, but was dreading the night class that I needed to attend after my shift. I sighed and resigned myself to another long night.

* * *

At close to 5:30, I was finally cut and I began finishing my side work and cleaning my section of tables to leave. I had a night class that started at 6:30 and I knew I needed to hurry so that I could run and catch the bus to my campus. I normally preferred to walk from the diner to my class, but with the days getting shorter and shorter the further we moved into fall, the less sunlight I had to work with. I was a little paranoid and didn't like the idea of walking around with wads of cash in my bag in the dark for just any weirdo to try something.

I would have just driven my car to class, but there was hardly ever any parking around there. I didn't want to just drive around in circles waiting for a spot to maybe open up; I mostly used my car to drive to and from Port Angeles. Thankfully students at PACC could use their student IDs to get free rides on the local buses.

I finished sweeping under my last table and rushed to the back so I could change into more casual clothes. I needed to leave before anyone stopped me. I checked my watch as I put my thick jacket on and groaned out loud. I was running later than I wanted and I'd have to be quick to catch the bus. The next one wouldn't be coming for another 40 minutes.

As luck would have it, I was digging through my purse to find the lanyard that clipped to my student ID and wasn't paying attention to my surroundings as I stepped out of the door in a hurry. Next thing I knew, I felt like I'd run into a brick wall and fell onto my ass with an embarrassing _thump_. I let out a small groan as I saw everything from my purse had spilled out onto the wet ground, including my work clothes.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! Are you okay?" A concerned deep voice from above me asked.

I kept my eyes down as I could feel my face burning with embarrassment. I got into a crouching position and began picking up everything and shoving them into my bag even if they weren't fitting all that well.

I was desperately hoping that my blush would fade quickly as I answered, "No, I'm sorry about that. I was in a hurry and didn't notice you outside the door…" I trailed off as I stood fully and looked at the man who was handing me my things. He was tall, so tall, even compared to my well above average height of 5'9". This guy was a whole head taller than me. He had beautiful dark skin and short, black cropped hair. He looked huge, his chest and arms filled out his long sleeved shirt nicely. He was, to put it simply, _hot. _I brought my eyes back up to his face and felt mortified that I was just checking out this man like a piece of meat. _So much for hoping my blush faded…_

As our eyes met, I heard the bus rattle past me on the street. _Oh no, I completely forgot about the bus! _

I started taking a few steps in the direction it was going, yelling and waving my arms above my head like a lunatic, but it never slowed its pace.

I watched in dismay as the bus driver saw no one at the bus stop down at the corner and kept driving towards its next stop. I couldn't believe this was happening. Of course, when it rains, it pours and my day had quickly turned into a downpour. I felt so frustrated and could feel little angry tears welling up in my eyes. I started blinking quickly trying to keep my cool. Then, I remembered that the guy I'd run into was still standing there.

I turned back to face him and saw that he was looking at me like a deer in headlights. When he saw my face though, he quickly snapped out of his daze with a small shake of his head. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Doing my best to keep from crying in front of a total stranger, I choked out, "Sure. I just need to get going so I can get to my class." How exactly I would accomplish that, I wasn't too sure of yet.

The man looked at where the bus had been and asked, "Is there another bus that can take you to your class?"

I looked down at my dirty and well worn Converse. "Not for a bit, but I'll find a way. If nothing else, I guess I'll just have to walk to class."

He was quiet for a minute. He was so quiet that I looked up thinking that he'd left, but it seemed like he was just deep in thought. Finally, he said, "I could drive you if you want. I'd hate for you to be walking at night by yourself and it is my fault that you missed your bus." He sounded a little guilty saying that last part.

I was already shaking my head. "Um, I appreciate your offer but that's really okay. You don't need to do anything, and it definitely wasn't your fault that I missed the bus. I need to pay more attention to my surroundings. Thank you though, and have a good rest of your night." I turned away from him and started walking in the opposite direction of the bus stop. The man quickly caught up to me.

He put his hands in his pocket and said, "I really don't mind driving you. I would be happy to do it. Besides, if I don't drive you, I might walk with you to make sure nothing bad happens."

I wasn't sure if this guy was really just this nice or if he had some other ulterior motive. I replied, "Thank you, but I don't know that I feel completely comfortable riding in a complete stranger's car."

He was quiet again and I felt a kind of pang at the thought that I might have hurt his feelings. I'm not sure why I necessarily cared considering I'd only just met him, but it didn't feel right all the same. At that moment, he took one giant step and stood in front of me blocking my path. He gave me a small smile that released butterflies in my stomach.

"My name is Embry Call and I'm from La Push, the reservation about an hour or so from here. I'm 25, almost 26 years old and I work as a mechanic at an auto shop. My favorite color is green and my favorite animal is the wolf." He smiled even wider as he finished.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" I furrowed my brow in confusion.

"This way, I'm not a stranger anymore! This is stuff that friends know about each other," he replied.

This guy was ridiculous, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling a little back at him too. His charm added with my anxiety about getting to class helped me with my decision.

"Okay then…friend…I will accept your offer of a ride. However, I'm going to keep some pepper spray in my hand just in case." This guy, or Embry I should say, started smiling even more than before and it seemed like his whole face lit up with it. Without meaning to think it, I liked that I had caused that smile.

He threw his hands up in the air and said, "That's fine with me. I'm a perfect gentleman."

My eyes narrowed playfully at him, then I checked my watch again. "Shit! We need to get moving if I'm going to make it to class on time!" He just nodded and started leading me to a car that was parked at a meter about a block down the street. It looked like an older car, but the closer we got to it, I could see that it looked very well cared for.

Embry came to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for me. I blushed and just muttered a small "Thanks" before getting in and placing my bag at my feet. He rushed around to the driver side door faster than I could have imagined based on his size. As the car started, it let out a muffled roar and Embry pulled out into traffic.

I told him that my class was at PACC and he nodded and started to drive in that direction. It was quiet other than the gentle rumble of the car's engine. It was a comfortable silence though; I wasn't sure what I would say to him anyway. I then remembered what I told him about the pepper spray and started digging around in my bag again. He gave me a questioning glance, but let out a snort of laughter as I pulled out the spray. "You were serious about that?"

I huffed and crossed my arms. "A girl can't be too careful these days when there's all kinds of crazies wandering the streets." I gave him a look as I said it.

Embry was chuckling but nodded along. "It's great that you're being careful. There's definitely dangerous things out there." He looked over at me again. "So now that we're friends, do I get to know the name of my lovely new friend?"

I blushed and looked out the window. _What's the harm? _"I'm Olivia Baker." I watched his reflection in the window.

He took one of his hands off the steering well and held it out to me. "It's very nice to meet you, Olivia Baker." I was feeling butterflies in my stomach, but when I placed my hand in his huge one, the butterflies decided to have a rave. Embry's hand was so warm.

Embry chuckled again and when I looked at him, all he did was look at our joined hands and back up again. I realized I'd been holding his hand for way longer than was necessary and dropped it like it might burn me.

Not long after, he pulled up in front of the school and I moved to grab the door handle.

"Olivia, wait." I kept my hold on the handle, but didn't open the door. "Yes Embry?"

"Do you need a ride after your class? I'd be more than happy to come back and drive you wherever you need to go." It was a nice offer, but I couldn't do that to him. My class was almost three hours long.

"I appreciate the offer, but I'll be able to take the bus back after my class is over. Thanks again for the ride though, I think you saved the day." I looked over at him with a smile and blush again. I can't remember the last time that I blushed so much.

He sighed in acceptance, but didn't give up. "Well I don't know about you Olivia, but I have almost all of my friends' phone numbers in case we ever need help with anything or just to talk. You're the only friend whose number I don't have now." He seemed to be holding his breath waiting for my answer.

I didn't answer him for a few seconds and I could tell he was getting a little nervous. Well he didn't seem like a crazy person. He was actually very nice and I supposed it couldn't hurt to give him my number. Honestly, he would probably forget all about me after he left. Smiling at him, I grabbed a pen and tore a small piece of paper from my notebook. I wrote my name and number on there and gave it to him. He took the paper and held it like he was scared he would smudge the ink or crumple it in his hand.

A look at my watch told me I had about 5 minutes to get inside to class. With one last look at Embry, I got out of the car and closed the door. He rolled the window down and watched me walk into the building, waving with a small smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I want to give a huge thank you to those who have followed/favorited this story story far! Also, a shoutout to my first set of reviewers, Lily, Kiwiflea, and lizzolukosko. I appreciate your kind words and comments more than you will ever know! Now, time to enjoy some Embry thoughts! Hope you all enjoy this :)**

Chapter 2 - Embry's POV

I knew that I looked like an idiot, but I couldn't stop smiling. My thoughts drifted to _her_. I just couldn't believe that I had actually imprinted. Me, of all people, and today of all days. Today had started as such an ordinary day; I'd woken up in the same bed, dressed in the same clothes, and worked on the same cars that always came in for the same servicing.

In fact, I wasn't even supposed to be in Port Angeles originally, but one of those very same cars actually needed a part that we didn't have at the shop. I'd driven into town looking for the bigger auto parts store. To think, I'd tried to get out of making the trip too…if it hadn't been for Sam, who owned the the auto shop I worked at, telling me to go, I probably would have skipped out and made someone else go.

If Sam wanted me to go and run an errand, I would do it. It was because of him that the other wolves in our pack and I didn't get into too much trouble over the years. Sam had been the first one of us to phase in generations and he knew just how hard it was on everyone if there was no support system. Over the years, he'd taken to becoming kind of like a big brother or father figure to those who needed it. Sam would hire anyone who needed the job and would bring anyone into his own home if they needed a meal. I respected the hell out of him and made sure to do my part with helping out.

Thinking of my pack brothers, my smile faded slightly as I thought of the troubles all of them had gone through or were currently going through because of imprinting.

There had been all kinds of issues with the various imprinted couples…Sam and Emily, Jared and Kim, Quil and Claire, Jake and Nessie, Paul and Rachel…between age differences, pre-existing relationships, and pre-existing impressions of people (it had taken a while for Kim to take Jared seriously), there was a whole slew of things that could and probably would go wrong at the beginning stages of relationships with imprints. I wasn't sure how exactly I felt about it. While I was happy for everyone and how things had eventually turned out, I was still kind of cautious. I'd seen in my friends' heads just how badly this could go.

Anyone who knew Leah Clearwater could attest to that. With all of the drama that had gone down between her, Sam, and Emily, she was a ticking bomb that waited to explode at anything or anyone for years. As soon as enough new kids had phased and filled out our numbers a bit, she'd taken off to Seattle and hadn't looked back. It was only with her mother and brother's begging that she came back to La Push for holidays.

I'd never given too much thought as to what could happen if I were to imprint. We'd been told that it's supposed to be a rare occurrence, so I'd never given it any further thought. My life had been fine before, if just a little routine. I went to work, I patrolled, I slept, and I'd fit eating somewhere into that schedule each day. On a rare night off, I'd sometimes bring home a girl for a little extra fun, but those occurrences were few and far between. I'd never been the guy that could have a bunch of meaningless one night stands, especially with the strange hours that accompanied my lifestyle.

I realized now that there had been something missing this whole time. Since meeting Olivia (my heart skipped a beat thinking of her name), the world seemed a little brighter, my vision clearer. Even though I didn't know much about her, I couldn't wait to learn how we fit together in each others' lives. Closing my eyes, I could still smell what must have been her perfume or shampoo, something floral and light…

A loud honking behind me ripped me from my thoughts and I jerked my car back into the lane from the emergency shoulder. Glancing down at my speedometer, I realized I also was doing 10 under the speed limit. _Whoops._

All I wanted to do was talk to her in some way…texting, calling…she'd probably be in class though. I glanced at the clock in the car and noticed it's only been 40 minutes since I had dropped her off at the school.

I wonder how long night classes last? I groaned at not knowing the answer. It wouldn't be weird to text her tonight, right? I didn't need to appear desperate, I just have to keep it casual. Yeah, I would just play it cool and see how she responded to me. I needed to text her before I lost my nerve or decided to do something crazier, like phase into my wolf form and sprint all the way back to Port Angeles.

Realizing that I should probably get home first to text her, before I caused any traffic accidents anyway, I slammed my foot onto the accelerator and drove 15 over the speed limit for the rest of the drive.

* * *

I pulled into my gravel driveway with a slight skid about 20 minutes later, still going too fast. I burst out of the car so quickly that I had to double back and actually close the door before sprinting up the stairs of the little cabin that my best friend, Quil, and I shared.

I had been thinking of the perfect way to start my text to her.

_Hey, this is Embry. How's it going? _That sounded stupid.

_Hi Olivia, this is Embry. Hope you're doing well. _This wasn't much better; it sounds kind of pretentious and like we'd connected at some networking event or something.

I went through more iterations of various hello messages, but nothing seemed right. Deep in thought, my body went through the motions of digging through the refrigerator for some food. As I turned around, arms holding a pizza box and a beer, I about had a heart attack as I noticed Quil and Claire sitting at the kitchen table.

They were both facing me and trying not to laugh, but I could see their cheeks twitching. Quil finally couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into loud and raucous laughter. This idiot was literally pounding his fist on the table with tears coming out of his eyes. This only set Claire off, but seeing how she was the most dramatic 14 year old I knew, she went the extra mile and fell out of her chair laughing.

I just rolled my eyes and went to sit at the table with them.

Quil was trying to pull himself together with little success. "D-d-dude, you were totally out of it! We've been sitting here the entire time and you're walking around muttering to yourself without even knowing we're here!" The thought of it sent him into another round of laughter. I ignored him and Claire, who was now rolling on the floor. Damn drama queen.

I decided to let them settle down and dug into my food. I was on my third slice of pizza by the time Claire picked herself up. On my fourth slice is when they both were finally able to hold a conversation with me.

I eyed the two of them critically. "Are you guys done? If not, you don't need to hear my news." I could practically see Claire's ears perking up. Nothing ever really happened in our neck of the woods so any news would be interesting to her.

Quil quirked an eyebrow at me. "So there is news? Not just you acting like a dork?"

I shoved him with my shoulder. "No dumbass, I have news. Do you want to hear it or not?" It was Claire's turn to shove Quil. "Shut up Quil! I want to hear what the news is!"

He settled down with a disgruntled look, but his eyes quickly bugged out as I finally declared, "I imprinted today!" Claire immediately squealed and I had to slap my hands over my ears at the pitch.

Quil finally processed what I said and proceeded to cover Claire's mouth with his hand. She immediately stopped squealing and licked his hand instead. "Yuck!" He brought his hand back and shook it excessively before wiping her saliva on the back of her shirt. She looked like she was about to retaliate when I cleared my throat loudly; if I didn't stop them now, who knows how long they'd go on. They both turned back to me and Claire let out a short squeal again.

As Quil held his hand up to put it over her mouth again, she stopped quickly and said, "I'm done, I'm done! But Embry, this is so exciting! What's her name, where did you meet her, when are you going to see her, when can we meet her, how-," I cut her off before she kept rattling off questions.

"Her name is Olivia Baker, I accidentally ran into her and made her drop her things, I drove her to her night class, I'm not sure when I'll see her again, and you will meet her when you learn to speak like a human being and not an alien with expanded lung function!" My lungs were quick to suck in some oxygen after that winded answer.

Quil raised an eyebrow at me. "You ran into her and made her drop her stuff?"

"Well, it was more like she ran into me and bounced off."

Claire piped up, "How did you end up driving her to class?"

Trying to give as much detail as possible so that they could help me, I regaled the entire magical meeting. Throughout my story, Quil and Claire ooh'd and aah'd at all of the right moments. Claire even pretended to swoon at the part where I got Olivia's number.

When I was done, Claire immediately asked, "So when are you going to call her? You need to see her again!"

At the idea of seeing her again, my heart kicked into high gear. Quil sent a cheesy grin my way as he noticed it. I threw a crumpled napkin at him and focused my attention back to Claire.

"I'm not sure that I'm going to call her first. I was thinking of texting her and trying to stay kinda casual for now." I slowly rubbed a hand on the back of my neck.

Claire looked like I'd personally offended her. "But that's not romantic at all! You need to call her, ask her about her day, talk with her all night until the sun rises!" She had her hands held over her heart and was swaying slightly in her seat.

"No way, Claire. That's coming off way too strong; I don't want to scare her away before we get the chance to know each other!"

She pouted. "That's what they do in all of my books though!"

"This isn't a book or story, this is my real life. I can't afford to mess this up." My voice softened towards the end.

Claire and Quil looked serious for the first time at my tone. They looked at each other and seemed to have a conversation with no words. Waiting on them to notice me again, I idly wondered if Olivia and I would have that same kind of connection with each other some day.

They turned back to me, Claire with a determined look in her eyes. "Alright Embry, let's get the girl!" She punctuated her statement with a fist pump into the air and Quil slapped a hand on my back with a grin.

As annoying as my friends could be, I wouldn't trade them for anything.

* * *

With the way we were talking and planning, you'd think we were strategizing war maneuvers. At one point Claire wanted to bring out a whiteboard and actually write out steps and methods, but Quil gently shut that idea down.

I just wanted to send a simple text for crying out loud! I figured once I initiated the conversation then we could let everything flow downhill from there.

It was getting late; it had already been a couple of hours since I'd first come home and I wanted to get this one text out so I could just go to sleep. Claire had loudly informed me that anything sent after midnight was "booty call" time and I was expressly forbidden from disrespecting my imprint like that. This led to a side conversation of Quil hotly asking how she knew about "booty call" time and her trying to explain she was all grown up now.

I let them argue and I pulled my phone out. I had to get something out before I just lost my nerve entirely.

_Hey Olivia, this is Embry. I hope your class went well today. Here's hoping that I'll "run into you" again sometime soon._

This could work, right? It had my name, wished her well, and shows that I'm humorous and not as dry as desert sand. I was wondering if there was a better way to word my message when Claire bounced over, grabbed my phone out of my hand, scanned the text quickly, and then hit send!

I moved as fast as I could to grab the phone, but it was too late. _Is it getting hot in here? _I could feel a light sheen of sweat pop up across my forehead. I glanced at Claire who was walking away with a sense of fulfillment. She went to the living room intending to start a movie and lay down on our couch. Quil just shrugged at me, gave me a thumbs up, and went to plop down next to her.

I floated to my bedroom feeling like a ghost who'd recently left his body. I started to get ready for bed and couldn't help but check my phone every other minute. I panicked every time I felt phantom vibrations of a text alert and cursed internally every time it was nothing. The one time it actually was a text message, I almost broke my phone grabbing it so tightly, but it was just Sam asking if I was coming to his and Emily's house for dinner soon.

I felt like I was losing it. Maybe she was busy? Busy with family? _Or with another guy. _I shook the thoughts from my head before I lost what little sanity I felt like I had left. She was probably just busy or asleep already, it was kind of late after all. I'm not sure how long her class was, but she would most likely be tired afterwards.

Satisfied with that answer, I finished brushing my teeth and stripped down to my birthday suit. Since my temperature ran higher than normal, it was very uncomfortable to sleep in pajamas.

Remembering that Claire was in the house though, I grumbled and put a pair of basketball shorts on. After she'd accidentally seen me in the nude when she was about 8 years old, Quil had created and enforced a rule of not sleeping in the buff when she stayed the night. I shuddered at the memory.

I settled down in my queen sized bed and held a fluffy pillow to my chest. I could feel myself start to doze off when I got a text notification. Peeking an eye open, my heart flew into my throat as I saw that it was from _her_.

_Hi Embry. Class was ok, but glad it's over. It might be nice to run into you again…Buses are very notorious for not being all that reliable, so maybe you have a solution?…_

Holy shit. Did I read that correctly? I rubbed my eyes vigorously and blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't reading this in the wrong way. I scanned her text word by word and couldn't believe it. She was basically saying that she wanted to see me again!

I quickly wrote out another text to her, not caring if I sounded stupid. _The Embry Call taxi service is very reliable, 5 star reviews on Yelp. Maybe you'd be interested in giving it a try?_

Several minutes passed and I could feel disappointment bubbling up. Knowing how irrational that was though, I tried not to let it bother me and just closed my eyes again thinking that she'd gone to sleep already. My phone buzzed and my eyes shot open a second time.

_Maybe we can negotiate a free trial or something because I'm on Yelp now, and let me tell you pal, there's no Embry Call taxi service that I can see! _

Knowing that she obviously has a sense of humor made me feel like the luckiest guy in the world. My imprint was beautiful _and _funny!

_I'm sure that we can work something out. I aim to please._

Was that too inappropriate? I sent it anyway, just to see what she would say back. This time, I could see the little bubbles on the screen indicating that she was texting me back at that moment.

_I look forward to it then. Goodnight :)_

Disappointment flowed through my body as I realized we would be done texting tonight. I felt like I could stay up for hours just texting with her, but knew that she'd probably had a long day. I needed to get some sleep too so I wouldn't be a zombie tomorrow.

I sent her one final text. _Goodnight Olivia, sweet dreams_.

Shutting my phone's screen off, I closed my eyes and drifted off while thinking of beautiful brown eyes gazing softly at me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updating, this coronavirus stuff is a huge pain in the butt! I hope everyone is practicing social distancing; just hole up somewhere and read fanfiction lol. Thank you to everyone who is reading! The story should pick up a bit more in terms of them interacting with each other directly.**

Chapter 3 - Olivia's POV

_Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep. Beep beep bee_-

I threw my hand out and smacked the snooze button to shut off the annoyance. How could it possibly be time to get up already? I feel like I'd just passed out in bed like ten minutes ago. I opened my eyes slowly, but it seemed like it would be another cloudy and rainy day so there wasn't much sunlight for them to adjust to.

Glancing at the little clock on my bedside table, I groaned knowing that I needed to get up in the next few minutes or rush through my morning routine. That in and of itself wasn't necessarily the worst thing, but I would probably forget something on my way out the door and I didn't have the energy for that extra stress.

I stretched and popped a few joints before attempting to sit up in my bed. As soon as the cold air hit my bare arms though, I immediately pulled my fleece blanket back up and over my body. I couldn't stand the cold and it always made it that much harder to get out of bed. I hid under my blanket for a few more minutes trying to psych myself into getting up.

Although I already knew that it was later than I wanted it to be, I peeked over at my clock again and contemplated quitting my job. It just sucked to never really have a free day between going to school and working. I would love to just have a Saturday off!

Knowing that I was wasting more time, I finally shoved my blanket all the way off and flung it towards the bottom of the bed so I wouldn't be tempted to crawl right back in. Thankfully I kept a little rug on the floor right where I put my feet down so I didn't have to suffer the cruel hardwood floors immediately. I tucked my feet into my slippers, the grey stitching beginning to unravel on the sides.

I padded down to the only bathroom in the house, making sure that I stepped quietly past the thin door on the right. Although Dad was already at work, Mom was probably asleep and would stay that way for a while. She was always tired and wanting to sleep the days away when she didn't have to work. I made a mental note to check on her before I left if there was time.

Once I finished going through the motions of getting ready, I crept back to my bedroom to dress in my uniform. Thankfully the diner let its servers wear jeans, but we had to wear an ugly yellow polo shirt with the diner's name, Ronda's House, printed in purple on the top left side of our chests. Panic struck me when I couldn't find my little apron that had my order book tucked into a pocket. I began rifling through some of the piles of clothing and books that I'd left out, but it was nowhere to be seen.

Thinking maybe I'd tossed it somewhere in the living room last night when I had come home, I tried to take hurried, but silent, steps towards the front of the house. I couldn't help the squeaking and groaning of the floor beneath me though; this house was so old that you could barely step anywhere without some kind of noise.

Immediately after stepping into the living room, I spied my apron carelessly perched on the back of the couch. I glanced at the time on my phone and saw that I should have left about five minutes ago. I quickly ran through the list of things that I needed before leaving the house, hoping beyond all hope that I wasn't forgetting anything. _Apron, purse, phone, keys…_that was probably it. There wasn't any time for food, but I was hoping to sneak a biscuit at work if the manager was feeling particularly kind today.

Shrugging into my jacket, I scanned the living room one last time and let myself out the door. I didn't bother locking the door. There wasn't much for anyone to steal.

As I got into my beat up car, I backed out and started driving in the direction of the highway. Guilt hit me as I realized I never checked on Mom, but hopefully she was having a good day and would be able to feed herself until I got home.

The welcome sign for Forks slowly shrank in my rearview mirror until it disappeared from my view entirely. As I made the turn onto the highway, my thoughts drifted to Embry.

Should I text him today? He seemed like a nice and funny guy, just different compared to the usual guys that I've met before. It sounded cheesy, but I felt a giddiness thinking about him that wasn't normal for me. I couldn't remember the last time that I felt excited to meet a guy. I remembered the butterflies I'd felt and knew that those were a new feeling for me too.

I wouldn't mind texting with him, talking to him…other things with him. Good grief, I needed to get a grip on myself…sure he was good looking, but there had to be more to him than that. Also, what if he didn't feel the same way? Just looking at him, he probably had packs of girls fawning over him everywhere he went. I couldn't possibly stack up to some of them, especially in the looks department.

I narrowed my eyes just thinking about some faceless, big-boobed hussy batting her eyelashes up at him and giggling at something he said. I shook my head trying to clear it a little. Why would I even care? He's certainly not my boyfriend. For Pete's sake, we had only just met less than 24 hours ago!

Maybe last night was a fluke though? It was kind of dark, did he even get a good look at me? He probably didn't, and he had his eyes on the road for most of the time that we were together. In fact, he probably only texted me last night to be polite. I didn't have another text from him, so did that mean something?

My thoughts continued to spiral down this rabbit hole. By the time I pulled my car into a spot on the side street near the diner, I was convinced that I would never hear from Embry Call or feel those butterflies ever again.

* * *

Three hours into my shift and I thought I would absolutely die of boredom.

The usual crowd of brunchers had not shown up today so it had just been a few random couples and lone individuals drifting in and out. I looked around at the other servers who were working with me; two of them were trying to build a house out of straws, one was sitting at the register trying to keep their head up and eyes open, and the last one was re-organizing the different condiments and jams.

I didn't understand why the manager on duty didn't just let one of us go home. In his words, "You never know when that big crowd will hit!" I rolled my eyes in frustration.

I approached one of the new servers…Ryan I think was his name. "Hey man, can you keep an eye on my section for me? I'm just gonna run to the back for a minute." He smiled and nodded at me. He opened his mouth to say something else, but I just turned and booked it to the back.

I camouflaged myself behind a couple of crates of sugar and beans. Looking around and seeing that I seemed to be alone, I pulled my phone out. My heart skipped a beat as I saw that there was a text from Embry.

_Good morning, I hope you slept well. Do you have any plans today?_

I bit my lip softly. He seemed like he wanted to see me again. Surely politeness didn't extend this far? Anyway, weren't guys supposed to wait like days before texting a girl to not seem too interested at first? It had been so long since I'd had any kind of relationship with a guy that I just wasn't sure. My last relationship had been years ago in high school, and that hadn't even last all that long. I typed my response out to him.

_I slept well, thanks. I hope you did too. I actually have work for most of the day today. Wish I could leave though, it's pretty dead._

I decided I would wait and see if he texted back quickly. I probably needed to get back out to the front before my manager realized I wasn't out there. Thankfully, Embry didn't keep me waiting too long.

_That definitely sucks. Where do you work?_

_It's called Ronda's House; it's the same place I was coming out of when I bumped into you. Sorry again for that by the way. _Even though I really wanted to just stay back here texting Embry, I made myself go back out front.

Trying to make the time pass faster, I started to clean my tables and refill the salt, pepper, and sugar packets. I figured the sooner I cleaned and kept the tables clean, then I would be able to leave that much faster when I was eventually cut. I finished sweeping under the tables and even went so far as to wipe the seats of the chairs with a towel.

No new customer had come in yet so I walked back into the kitchen to start my side work. In the little nook where our computer for entering orders sat, I pulled my phone out and checked to see if Embry had texted back. I tried not to think too much about the fact that he hadn't answered me yet. He was probably busy, he's a grown man who has a life outside of texting me.

Doing my best to distract myself and shake the disappointment off, I grabbed a small tray and put a water pitcher and a coffee pot on it. I walked around to the few occupied tables in the diner to see if anyone needed refills. I was reaching for a customer's water glass when I heard the bell above the door ring. _Finally, a new customer. Hopefully a nice one who tips well also…_

After I refilled the water, I turned around and saw that a few people had come in and were standing near the front waiting to be seated. I couldn't see their faces, but it looked like two very large men and a young girl were observing the pictures on the wall. Actually, the men were huge and both had dark black hair cropped short, with tanned, rich skin. One of them turned slightly to say something to his companions and that's when I noticed he looked very familiar. In fact…

"Embry?" There was no way…

He turned fully away from the other two and faced me with a 1000 watt smile. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was really him! I probably looked like a fish with my mouth gaping open, but it was hard to imagine that this wasn't a weird dream. What was he doing here? I pressed my lips together and set my tray down on an empty table before walking towards them.

As I closed the distance between us, I noticed that the other guy, while looking very similar to Embry, was shorter than him by a few inches and seemed to be a little stockier. They definitely could have been brothers though for how similarly they looked. My eyes moved down to the shorter girl. She seemed to be a strange member of their group, she couldn't have been any older than 15 or 16 at most. Perhaps she was a little sister? She had the same skin tone as Embry and the other guy and hair that was so dark brown it almost looked black. This girl seemed to be bouncing with anticipation of some kind.

Finally, I stopped in front of Embry and gave him a hesitant smile. "Embry, what are you doing here?" My eyes slid to look over the other two again.

Embry opened his mouth to answer me, but the young girl beat him to the punch. "Hi Olivia! I'm Claire and this is my best friend, Quil! We've heard so much about you from Embry and when he told us you were working, we just had to come by and meet you! It is so nice to finally meet you!"

I blinked a couple of times, not expecting her to say so much. As she gave me a smile that was all teeth, I registered the fact that she'd said Embry had told them all about me and I began blushing. Oh boy, here my face goes again.

Looking back to Embry, he was shooting glares at Claire and gave a pointed look to Quil.

I cleared my throat a little and said, "It's really nice to meet you all. I am a little surprised that you're in this diner though. Are you all in town to go to the mall or something?"

I wasn't sure how to process them showing up or what it all even meant to Embry. They weren't here for me, right? I mean, the guy had said that he lived like an hour from here. Maybe they had already been around the area and didn't make a special trip to come here.

Embry's eyes widened and he was quick to shake his head. "No, we're here to see you. I know you said that you weren't very busy and I figured we could come, say hi, and keep you entertained for a bit!" He finished with a sheepish smile aimed at me.

They were here for me? I wanted to take his word, but I wasn't completely convinced. There was no way I could call him out either. I wasn't sure what to think.

Embry's smile faded as the seconds ticked by and I didn't say anything, lost in my own head while trying to come up with a logical explanation for their presence. He rushed to say, "If you don't want us here, that's ok too. Honestly, I should have asked you, it's probably weird of us to just show up." He ran a hand through his short hair and was smiling nervously at me now.

Was he freaking out? Did he think that I didn't want them here?

"Oh no, you all are more than welcome to stay and hang out. I just didn't know if you planned on doing anything else up here or why you would make the trip just to come and see me."

Claire opened her mouth and started to say something when Embry looked in her direction and shot her a glare. She promptly shut her mouth and just smiled while rocking back and forth on her heels.

Embry slowly turned back to me with a smile growing across his face. "There's no other reason, we wanted to see you and keep you company! That's what friends do, right? As I recall, we're friends after last night."

My heart started to pick up pace again. I noticed Embry glance down towards my chest then back up at my face as his smile turned into a dazzling one with teeth. I was suddenly self conscious about the fact that I was wearing such an ugly top. At least I was wearing some jeans that made my ass look good…

I walked over to the host stand and grabbed three menus. I lead them to a table further away from the other servers' sections and watched as they all sat down. Quil immediately started tipping his chair back on its rear legs.

I took their drink orders (a water for Embry, a Coke for Quil, and a lemonade for Claire) and walked back into the kitchen. As I stepped through the swinging door, a round of applause greeted me and I looked around in confusion. The other servers were laughing and clapping towards me, but I couldn't think of why. Finally, one of them, Nadia, stepped up to me.

"We just wanted to say 'Well done' Olivia! Those guys out there are smoking hot!" I could feel a blush forming across my face. In order to move away from them, I started preparing my "friends'" drinks.

"They're not bad I suppose." I wanted to snort, that was the understatement of the century. Nadia stepped up to ask me something again, but I quickly pushed past her and brought the drinks out in the dining room. I set the glasses onto the tabletop and, after a quick look around the dining room, I sat down next to Embry.

Quil and Claire chirped out their thanks and proceeded to take long swigs of their drinks. Embry didn't reach for his drink or do anything, it was like he was paralyzed in his seat. Claire seemed to be challenging Quil to some drink chugging contest so I turned to face Embry. He still didn't do anything and I put my hand on his arm. "Are you okay? I can get you another drink if you want."

At that, he started forward so suddenly that he knocked his water all over the table and also onto my shirt and apron. Quil dropped his chair back onto all four legs, scanned the table, and then started laughing. I sat frozen in my seat, not quite believing that this could be happening to me. Embry looked like he wanted to bury himself in a hole somewhere never to see the light of day again. Leaning forward with his arms on the table, he started to gently hit his head on the table, muttering, "I'm sorry, I am so damn sorry. I don't know what just happened."

I wasn't sure what to do, but somehow I could feel a laugh rising up in me. I put a hand over my mouth to keep from bursting out, but ultimately I let out a full belly laugh. Claire joined in the laughter and then Embry, lifting his head and seeing that I wasn't mad, went from looking horrified to cracking a smile.

Telling them I wanted to grab a towel, I made my way back to the kitchen to see if there was anything I could do to dry myself off. I could hear Quil and Claire's laughter echoing in my ears as I passed through the door. As I looked for our bucket of clean and dry towels, Nadia approached me.

"Olivia, you look like you'd rather be anywhere than here. Does this have anything to do with the tall drinks of water out there? I'd be parched too," she finished with a wink and pretended to fan herself.

I laughed and motioned down at my clothes. "I think 'parched' is not quite how I would describe myself." Her eyes grew wide, but I could see her fighting a laugh too. I gave her the quick version of the story, still not really sure how it happened. "If you want, I can see if Joey will let you leave and I'll cover your section. It's dead anyway and then you can have that hunk of man meat make it up to you!"

I blushed, but considered her offer. My eyes lit up. "Nadia, are you sure? I don't want to be any trouble, and it's not a problem for me to stay at all."

She shook her head and grabbed my arm. "You don't want to be here any more than I do. Let's go find Joey now!"

We found Joey sulking in the office going over the sales reports for the last couple of hours. Hopefully he was feeling a little more open to cutting some employees right now.

I wasn't sure how to bring this up; I couldn't remember the last time I left work earlier than scheduled. Usually I was the one offering to work other servers' sections so that I could make more money. This warm feeling deep inside me wanted to spend more time with Embry and his friends. _Mostly with Embry anyway._

Nadia, seeing my hesitation, relayed our situation to him. "Hey Joey, so it's been pretty slow out there as I'm sure you've seen. Olivia has a lot of schoolwork and errands to get caught up on, so we were wondering if she could leave early. It would really be doing me a favor if I could cover her section. I have a couple of extra bills this month and could use the extra income." An innocent smile graced her face as she waited for Joey to answer.

He looked suspiciously back and forth between us for what seemed like minutes but was probably only seconds, his eyes lingering on the wet spots of my clothing. I crossed my arms uncomfortably and he looked away. Then he shrugged his shoulders.

"Olivia, you can go, but if Nadia has any trouble tonight, then this will be the last time I allow anything like this to happen. Does that sound fair?"

I found myself nodding before he could even finish talking. "I absolutely understand and agree." Nadia jumped back in and continued, "I'll be fine, I promise! Thanks Joey!" She dragged me out of the office before he could take back his permission.

Once I was heading back in the direction of their table, I started feeling more nervous. What was I doing? I'd never skipped out of work to go hang out with friends…if I could even call them that? I'd literally met Embry last night and his friends like twenty minutes ago! My head was signaling all kinds of alarm bells and whistles.

I would never be able to give a logical explanation for it, but my heart just somehow trusted Embry and felt that this wasn't a mistake. There was only one way to find out for sure; it was time to see if those movies about trusting your heart over your head were right.

I walked back out into the dining room and reached behind my back to start untying my wet apron. Embry immediately spotted me and smiled at me as I re-grouped with them. I put my apron on the table and untucked my shirt. As I met their questioning looks, I flashed a smile at them. "I'm free! Do you guys want to get out of here and do something fun?"

Embry cocked his head me. "I thought you were scheduled to work longer today?"

"I originally was, but another server is going to cover for me so that I can leave. Unless you all would rather stay here?"

Claire was practically vibrating with excitement. "Yay! This is going to be so fun! We should all go see a movie or go bowling!"

I smiled and shrugged to indicate I didn't care what we did. Quil turned to Claire and said, "I'm down for anything! Embry, does it matter to you?"

Embry just smiled and shook his head. I clapped my hands together. "Great, well we can figure it out outside of here. Let me just go put your drinks in the back and grab my stuff, then we can go."

Embry spoke up. "Olivia, I am so sorry again for spilling my water all over you. Is there anything I can do to make up for that? How much do we owe you for the drinks?" He started to pull his wallet out of his back pocket.

I moved away from the table and replied, "It's on the house. We give free refills of these drinks all of the time, it's no big deal at all. Don't worry about the water either, it's not the first time that it's happened." He opened his mouth to argue, but I turned my back to him and power walked back into the kitchen. I didn't make it further than a foot inside when Nadia came and snatched the glasses out of my hands. "Oh no you don't, it's time for you to go and have fun! I'll take care of these and wipe the table down for you. Just get out!"

"Jeez Nadia, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to get rid of me!" She grinned and walked backwards toward the dish room. "I am a little, but you would do this for anyone here too. You need to live your life while you're young. Now go!" I held my hands up in a surrendering motion. "Fine, I'm leaving! Thanks again Nadia, I owe you for sure." She waved me off and turned around.

I quickly grabbed my things and thanked a higher power that I was wearing a tank top under my work shirt and could just slip a hoodie sweater on over that. I walked back out to Embry and his friends while stuffing my polo into my purse. "See, no harm no foul. It's only my work shirt that got the brunt of the water. Ready to go?"

We started to walk out the front door. Embry went first and held the door open for all of us. As I passed him, I gave a quiet thanks and felt him follow closely behind me. It was only as we were walking down the street that I noticed a warm and comforting hand resting on my lower back, sending tingles up and down my spine.

Damn, the butterflies were back.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long! I'm still working and then with everything shut down, I don't have as much alone time as before and that's when I do most of my writing. Thank you for the favorites, follows, and reviews! Enjoy :)**

Chapter 4 - Embry's POV

The electricity that buzzed between us had me amped up to a level I'd never felt before.

I was hyper-aware of the little space that separated us. I'd have to thank Claire for being so adamant about seeing a thriller/horror movie. While I also would have liked going somewhere and actually making conversation with Olivia, I was enjoying taking this chance to think about how well things were going. It was an added bonus that my enhanced vision allowed me to sneak peeks of her from the corner of my eye. Jeez, she was so beautiful.

From my subtle (I hope) observations, I could see Olivia's eyes widening and sometimes shutting in fright. Every now and then, probably thinking no one could notice, she let out a small squeaks in fear. Her heart beat was going wild and it was music to my ears. In addition to the smell of fake butter permeating the air, a light and floral scent hung delicately around us and it was all I could do to keep myself from burying my face in her hair. I closed my eyes and just let my senses get overrun with flashes of her.

The music on the screen slowly transitioned into an empty silence and I opened my eyes. I focused on her hand clenching the cup holder at the end of the armrest. Not wanting to freak her out by moving too fast, I slowly moved my hand to rest next to hers, not quite touching. I studied the top of her hand, making a mental note to ask her how she got the small scar on her third knuckle.

I was so lost in my own little world that I didn't notice practically everyone in the entire theater holding their breaths and stilling their movements.

_BAM!_

Olivia jumped and several audience members let out small screams as whatever "scary" creature jumped out on the screen. I could feel the side of her hand bump anxiously against mine on our shared armrest. Without thinking too much about it, I grabbed her smaller hand in mine. She shot me a grateful look before using her other hand to block her eyes from seeing the next scene.

I didn't personally think this movie was all that scary, but to be honest, I wasn't paying too much attention to it. All I could focus on was my imprint who was sitting right next to me in this dark theater.

After who knows how much longer, the movie finally ended. I couldn't give one detail of the plot, I'd been way too focused on how Olivia never let go of my hand, even after the scary parts finished.

As we stood, I spotted Quil and Claire already in the aisle about to head out of the doors. We patiently waited for our row to slowly shuffle out. I tried to catch Olivia's eye, but she averted her gaze to the side and seemed to be counting the heads of people in front of us. While that seemed kind of weird, I didn't think too much about it.

We finally made it out into the lobby where the others were waiting on us. Olivia quickly walked up to Claire and they both started to head for the exit.

Quil gave me a questioning look, but I just shrugged, not sure what was going on. Was Olivia avoiding me? Had I done something wrong?

Claire called back to us that we would all be going bowling and then linked her arm with Olivia's (in a friendly way or in a way to make sure she couldn't escape, I wasn't sure).

We walked the short distance to the bowling alley from the theater with the girls ahead of us the entire time.

Once we got there, I jogged to catch up with Olivia, but right as she saw me coming, she made an excuse about finding a bathroom and fled before I could ask her what was wrong.

I questioningly looked at Claire. "Do you know what's going on with her?"

She looked contemplative. "She hasn't said anything to me, but I'll go and see if I can get the scoop out of her." She made a beeline to the same bathroom Olivia had disappeared into.

Quil and I decided to take a seat in the little snack area not knowing how long girl talk would last. We were surprised when Olivia and Claire came out after only a few minutes in there together. Once they were close enough, Claire hurriedly said something about going to look at the game play options and dragged Quil to follow her.

Olivia sat across from me and kept her head down. I wasn't entirely sure what happened.

"Hey, are you okay?" She looked away, a blush coloring her face as per usual.

"Of course, everything is fine. I can't wait to bowl," she finished less than enthusiastically.

I felt like a stone had sunk in my stomach. Maybe she didn't want to hang out with us anymore but doesn't want to be rude? Maybe I'd overstepped earlier when I held her hand at the theater? She'd seemed okay with it at the time, but I never expressly asked for her permission either. It was right as the movie ended that she'd started acting kind of strange.

"Olivia, if you want, I can take you home. You don't have to hang out with us if you don't want to," I trailed off and waited for her to agree with me.

I was surprised when a hurt expression flashed across her face before she schooled her features into a slightly hardened look. "Oh. Well, I guess you guys are probably tired of hanging around me. I can find my way back to the diner and get my car, no worries." She started to stand and grab her bag from the back of her chair.

Wait, what? She thought that _we_ wanted her to leave? I don't think I could have been more confused. Without thinking, I grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving. She looked down at my hand and I quickly brought it back to my side, not wanting to freak her out anymore.

"We don't want you to leave, we want to spend time hanging out with you!" How could she think otherwise?

"But you just said -" I cut her off before she could continue with that train of thought. "We want to spend time with you. Why would we make more plans to hang out after the movie if we didn't?"

She thought about it for a few seconds and then gave me a sheepish smile. "I guess you have a point."

I smiled gently back at her. "I know I do. I've been having fun and I think I can say the same for Claire and Quil even if they didn't sit by us in the movie."

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I could see Claire standing by the front counter waving her arms like a madwoman. Once she saw that she'd caught our attention, she started pointing furiously at the poor kid working the register and then began to alternate between flipping us a thumbs up and thumbs down. Multiple heads turned to stare at the wonder that was Claire Young. Quil was used to this after all of his years of knowing her so he just stood by her with no shame.

I started to roll my eyes, but noticed that Olivia was trying to hide a smile behind her hand. Wanting to see her smile more, I started imitating Claire's ridiculous thumbs up and down movements along with some goofy faces. Olivia burst out laughing so hard she was doubled over with her hands on her thighs.

I jerked to a stop and couldn't help but stare; she was radiant. Her laughter shook her whole body and it was so genuine sounding. She threw her head back and I was mesmerized watching her hair flip back. My eyes traced the line of her jaw down her throat. I wished I could commit this sight to memory.

A loud cough ripped me from my thoughts. I whipped my head around and saw Quil making kissy faces at me while Claire held her hands to her face. I thanked whatever higher being there was that she stood far from where we were; I could practically hear the high pitched squealing.

Eventually, we were finally set up with a bowling lane and had picked out our bowling balls. After a few rounds, I had learned that Olivia was actually pretty competitive. It eventually turned into a guys against girls competition and it was all Quil and I could do to try and stay ahead of them!

I couldn't help that I kept getting distracted. The first time I walked up for my turn, I caught a whiff of that light, floral scent again right as I was releasing the ball and ended up throwing it into the _next_ lane's gutter. My ears burned in embarrassment as I heard Quil's stupid braying behind me. When I walked back to the seats and sat down, Olivia took pity on me and put a comforting hand on my arm. My heart skipped a beat and suddenly I didn't care all that much about the ball.

Claire and Olivia ended up winning the first game, but Quil and I scraped out the next win. I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun. I noticed Olivia starting to yawn and saw how late it was getting. We still had to make the drive back home too.

"Hey guys, anyone ready to wrap up the fun and start making our way back to La Push?"

Claire piped up, "I could keep having fun! Sleep is for the weak!"

Olivia smiled a guilty smile. "Sorry Claire, I must be one of the weak then. I'm so tired and I need to get up early for work again tomorrow."

Claire looked like she wanted to argue but I cut her off before she could start. "It's fine Olivia, we can leave. Claire will be fine with one less round of bowling." I gave Claire a pointed look. She threw up her arms and huffed away to go sit by Quil.

We gathered our belongings and changed out our shoes. After returning everything, we stepped out into the chilly night air.

Claire immediately took a running jump onto Quil's back; he caught her with no hesitation and proceeded to give her a piggy back ride. Olivia watched them run off ahead of us and we could hear Claire laughing and encouraging Quil to go faster. Olivia looked up towards me as we stayed back.

"Hey Embry?"

"Hm?"

"What's up with Quil and Claire? I mean, they're really fun and all, but they seem like they hang out a lot and that seems kind of weird with their age difference. Claire already told me that they're not related so I just don't know why a guy who I'm assuming is your age wants to hang out with a high schooler." She peered up at me before looking ahead at them again.

I thought about it for a few seconds. How to explain this to her? I decided to stay truthful but keep it as vague as I could.

"Well…Quil and Claire have known each other for a while. Claire basically grew up with Quil as her honorary big brother and then their relationship kind of evolved from siblings to best friends in the last couple of years."

"How old is Claire exactly?"

"She's 16, but she'll be 17 in a few months I think."

Olivia's mouth dropped open. "She doesn't look like she's as old as that! I thought she was like 15 or something!"

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Claire gets that a lot. Between her youthful appearance and then the way she acts, people think she's a freshman in school but she's actually in her junior year." She still looked like she couldn't believe it.

"Wow, I wish I had genes like that! I feel like I'm already getting wrinkles and I know I have bags under my eyes."

The words escaped me before I could reign them in. "I think you're beautiful." She started blushing again and looked out in the other direction away from me.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

We walked in silence for a little bit, the occasional whooping noise coming from ahead of us. Eventually we made it back to the diner where Olivia worked. Once Claire saw my car, she leapt off of Quil's back and started to race him to the car. He easily caught up to her but "stumbled" right at the end which ensured her win.

We stopped walking right at the point where we'd have to split up since Olivia's car was parked on a side street by the diner and I was parked on the main street. Olivia looked shyly up at me.

"This was really fun, but my car is that way." She pointed in the general direction while trying to hide a yawn.

I spoke up, "You look really tired. Are you sure you're going to be all right driving back by yourself? It's still a long drive." I didn't like the idea of her driving by herself this late with her car that looked to be on its last legs.

She shrugged. "I have to get back somehow so I'll have to be okay with driving back. It'll be fine I'm sure."

"Why don't you ride back with us?" I suggested. She was already shaking her head. "I can bring you back here in the morning, I know you have work."

She was giving me this look that I couldn't decipher. "I can't have you do all of that, that's so much driving! Not to mention I have to start my shift at 7AM so I would need to leave my house by 6 to get here on time."

I smiled what I hoped was a reassuring smile. "It's really not a problem, I promise. I just want to make sure that you get home safely and I know you were up really early today. You've been yawning so much, I'd hate for something to happen to you."

She bit her lip and thought about it. I joked, "We've already established that I'm not a serial killer and the others will be with us in the car too."

She asked, "Are you really sure about this? I don't want to be any trouble."

"Of course I'm sure. Come on, let's go before those jokers mess my car up somehow."

We all got settled in the car with Olivia up front. After a few minutes of driving, Olivia nodded off with her head rolling sideways onto her shoulder, cushioned by her sweatshirt's hood. Looking in the rearview mirror, I saw that Claire was also asleep with her head on Quil's shoulder. He met my eyes and pointed to Olivia before throwing a thumbs up.

I just chuckled and relaxed into the drive.

The miles blended together until we were finally in La Push. Our house was more towards the edge of the reservation and I stopped to let Quil and Claire out. As they shut the car door and started up the porch steps, Olivia woke up and looked around groggily.

"Where are we?"

I began backing away from my house. "We're in La Push, I just dropped Quil and Claire off. La Push is closer to Port Angeles so your place is the next stop. Can you give me directions to where you live?"

There was no answer and I looked over at Olivia. She was staring out the window at the house. "Olivia?"

She tore her eyes from the house. "Oh sorry! Just start driving towards Forks and I'll give you directions once you get close."

I drove slowly wanting to savor our time together, but in the end I pulled up quietly in front of her house. I could see that the house was a little run-down. There were pieces of siding broken off and cracks in the wood.

We both sat quietly in the car, glancing at each other from the corners of our eyes.

She finally shifted to face me and gave a small, shy smile. "Thanks for everything today, Embry. I had a really good time." Olivia tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

I selfishly searched my mind for any way that I could continue spending time with her, but I knew that she ultimately had to go inside. I also remembered that I would be seeing her tomorrow.

For a guy who didn't used to be so sappy, I was feeling pretty down at the prospect of not seeing her for the night.

I answered, "I'm really glad you did. I had a great time too, Olivia. I wish it wasn't over yet." Was that too much to reveal? Hopefully not, I just wanted to be honest.

"Me too." She bit her lip and looked out the window. "I did want to apologize though. For earlier." Her cheeks flooded with color and she ducked her head down so that her hair would fall around her face.

"You don't need to apologize, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm sorry that I held your hand for as long as I did. That was inappropriate of me." I focused on the steering wheel in front of me waiting to hear her agree with me. To my surprise, she did the opposite.

"No Embry, you did nothing wrong! To be honest…" She trailed off, her head still down. "I liked that you held my hand, but I was just so embarrassed. I was acting like a scared child for the entire movie and then basically pressured you into holding my hand. I should have just been able to handle it like a grown adult." She finished quietly.

That's what she was worried about? I lifted my head up and grinned at her. "Olivia, you have nothing to be embarrassed about! Those movies are meant to scare people, you don't have to hide that from anyone. I didn't mind holding your hand either. I would have loved to keep holding it even after the movie." I didn't know it was possible, but she somehow blushed even harder. I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

Without realizing that I was doing it, I leaned in closer to her. Her eyes were so big and were nervously looking at me. When I was only a few inches away from her face, I glanced down at her lips then back up to her eyes. I heard her breath hitch.

"Would it be okay if I kissed you?" I asked.

She didn't say anything, but nodded after a few agonizing seconds.

I leaned in the rest of the way and gently pressed my lips against hers. Neither of us moved for a few seconds; I didn't want to freak her out by moving too quickly. Then surprisingly, Olivia put one of her hands on the side of my face and opened her mouth slightly. I took this as a sign to deepen the kiss.

Holy fuck. I was kissing her! I was actually kissing her and I felt like I could jump off a cliff, soar through the skies, and touch the sun.

We continued like this for a minute until Olivia pulled back with her hands on my chest. I could hear her heartbeat fluttering so quickly and I knew that mine was mimicking hers.

Her blush still hadn't faded, but she was smiling at me. "I should probably get inside." She seemed like she was weighing something in her head. "Thanks for everything tonight Embry. I'll see you tomorrow morning at 6?"

I gave her the biggest smile and answered, "Can't wait."

She opened the car door and, before stepping out, she turned back to give me a quick kiss. As the car door shut and she walked up to her front door, she turned around to wave at me quickly then went inside.

I sped home and stripped out of my clothes before running out into the forest behind my house. I phased into my wolf form and went for the most exhilarating run I'd had since first phasing.

If anyone was still awake, all they would hear was the joyous howl that ripped through the air.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the late update! My work schedule is still a little hectic, but I also re-wrote parts of this chapter over and over. This is just a filler chapter and stuff will pick up a bit with Embry in the next one. It's a shorter than my usual chapters, but I wanted to get something out to you all sooner than later. Thank you to my reviewers and favorites/follows!**

Chapter 5 - Olivia's POV

I couldn't get enough. Our hands were everywhere and I felt like I was having an out of body experience. Surely it couldn't be my hands pressed firmly against his chest, my heart beating against my ribs, my mouth opening slightly to let out breathy sighs. I was surprised to notice that my hand had traveled slowly down the expanse of his chest to rest right above the button on his jeans. Where was this coming from, I've never been this bold with any guy!

Before I could let my thoughts linger on that concept for too long, one of his hands slipped into my back pocket and squeezed lightly. His other hand was resting on my hip, one of his calloused fingertips occasionally slipping under my shirt to rub against my skin. Goosebumps erupted on my arms as we fought to get even closer to each other. He pulled his lips away from mine. Right as I started to whine in protest, those noises turned into small moans when his lips planted on my neck and collarbone. He was sucking lightly on my skin and I couldn't stop my moans from increasing in volume. This only seemed to spur him on and he brought his hands up to tangle themselves in my hair. I could do this forever, if only that beeping noise would go away…wait, beeping noise?

Now that I'd noticed it, the beeping seemed to be getting louder. What the hell…

I sat straight up in my bed with sweat dripping from my body. What in the actual hell had that been?! Everything had felt so real…I felt my face heat up drastically as I quickly recapped the events of my dream. Holy crap, is this what it felt like to have a sex dream? Not that we'd had sex, but close enough…right? Was I going around having sex dreams about random guys?! Well, not that Embry was random, but still. I wasn't the kind of person who dreamed such explicit things!

This was too fresh in my mind. My eyes strayed over to my clock and I just threw my head back with a groan. I needed to get ready for work, especially since Embry was coming to pick me up. Wait a minute. Oh shit, Embry was coming to pick me up!

I jumped out of my bed and ran towards my door, pausing only for a quick second to rip my ratty bathrobe off of its hook on the wall. I was moving so fast I slid a little on the rug and rammed my arm into the doorframe of the bathroom. Rubbing at the red spot that I knew was forming, I turned the water on and stripped faster than I thought possible. Before the water was even close to warm, I jumped in.

I then proceeded to scream as the _extremely_ cold water hit my body. I knew I needed to cool down from my dream, but dear god this was extreme. I started to scrabble with the shower curtain as it clung to my skin and just as I freed myself - BANG!

The door swung open and the next thing I knew, someone had grabbed me and was holding me to them so tightly I couldn't move! I let out a real scream then and did my best to struggle out of their grasp. What the hell was going on?!

Whoever was holding me spun us around so that we faced the mirror in the bathroom and that's when I finally got a look at my would be captor. Embry?!

"Embry, what in the actual hell are you doing? Put me down NOW!" I started kicking my legs back at him hoping to land them in his most painful spot for scaring the shit out of me.

I craned my neck to try and look up at him. He had a kind of wild look in his bloodshot eyes and he looked like he was…scared? Was it possible that I was still sleeping? This was such a strange morning and my day had barely begun.

My fingers were able to reach a part of his stomach and I pinched him as hard as I could. He let out a yelp and almost dropped me, but it seemed to do the trick as he almost visibly calmed down, his eyes dropping to meet mine. He finally set me down on my feet and put his hands on my shoulders.

"Olivia, are you okay? You're not hurt are you?" Hurt? Why would I be hurt?

I answered in a very confused voice, "Embry, what are you talking about? I'm not hurt, just super freaked out at what I thought was my possible kidnapping! Why the hell did you break into my home and my shower?" Horror flooded my system as I finally realized that _I was still naked!_

With another small scream, I yanked at my towel from the top of the toilet and wrapped it around me as best as I could. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Embry had freaked a little again at the noise.

"Would you stop doing that?!" He demanded.

"Doing what?! I haven't done anything other than try to take a shower!" I was getting a little pissed now that there didn't seem to be anything wrong other than my crazy new friend whose ass I would kick if he didn't start explaining soon.

"Screaming! That's why I came in to start with; I got here a little early and when I came up to your front door, I heard you scream and thought you were in trouble!" My jaw dropped. That little squeal-scream I did because I was cold was why he came in and caused all of this?

"You broke into my house because of that? That wasn't even a real scream, I was just cold from the shower water! And how in the world did you hear me scream from the front door, this bathroom is towards the back of the house!"

Embry started to look extremely embarrassed and sheepish. He ran a hand through his shorter hair and around down to his jaw. The movement made me remember when I was touching that jaw last night and I started blushing harder than I already was. Then I remembered my dream and I had to clear my throat before I could stay too long on that train of thought.

"Embry, you need to leave so that I can shower. If you want to wait in the living room, then we can talk after, but I need to get ready so I'm not too late for work."

He was staring at me with such intensity that I wasn't sure if he'd heard me. I waved a hand in front of his face, using my other hand to keep the towel held up. "Embry, hello?" He shook his head and blinked a few times. "Sorry what?"

"Get out and wait in the living room!" I practically yelled at him. He started at my harsh tone and finally scrambled out of the bathroom. I slammed the door shut behind him and locked it for good measure.

As I turned back to the shower, I noticed the steam coming from the water. Hmph. Well, at least it's warm now.

I hurried through my shower even though the warm water felt amazing against my skin. Grudgingly, I shut the water off. After drying off quickly, I threw on my robe and scurried back to my room.

I walked into the living room to find Embry sitting on the couch looking curiously around the room. I swallowed my embarrassment down at all of the second hand furniture and lack of nicer items in the house in general.

"Ready to go?" Better to just leave as soon as possible.

He replied, "Oh, yeah sure, I guess. Let's head out then." He tore his gaze from the walls of the room and stood up. We made our way quietly out to his car.

When we were both buckled in and the car started, Embry finally spoke up. "I'm so sorry about barging into your house like that." I raised an eyebrow at him. "Also your shower…I just heard you scream and got worried about you and couldn't control myself." I noticed his grip on the steering wheel tighten as he rambled lightly. My eyes looked up at his face and thought I saw more pronounced dark circles under them.

"Embry, I get it. Sort of, but I understand that you were just worried for me and that's sweet." I really could understand. I think I was just more embarrassed about him running in on me naked than anything else. "Did you…see anything when you came into the bathroom?" I think my blush was going to be a new and permanent fixture around him. It was hard to believe that just last night we had kissed.

"See anything? What do you mean?" Oh god, he was really going to draw this out wasn't he?

"I mean, did you see anything you weren't supposed to? Like, parts of me? Parts that friends don't normally see on each other?" Kill me now.

While I hadn't known Embry for long, something just instinctively told me that he didn't blush often; whether that was because nothing phased him like that or because his skin was dark enough that it would take some considerable effort to show any change in color, I wasn't sure. It was possibly a mix of both. Amazingly, I saw his cheeks darken noticeably and a dark red hue appeared. Crap, him blushing couldn't be a sign of him seeing nothing.

"Sorry, Liv. While I'd like to say no, I did catch a quick glimpse. I didn't stare or focus on anything though, I was too preoccupied with trying to save you from whatever danger I thought you were in." I didn't think any other moment in my life would ever be as awkward as this one. If only an asteroid could drop out of the sky and take me out now, that would be pretty perfect. Wait, what did he call me?

"Liv?"

"Saying 'Olivia' all of the time is kind of a mouthful, I thought I could shorten it down to a nickname. Unless you don't like it, I can definitely keep saying your full name, just ignore me." He would probably keep rambling so I decided to cut him off.

"No, it's fine. I've just never had a nickname before." It was a strange feeling to think that we were close enough that he would want to give me a nickname. You didn't give someone a nickname unless you liked them and possibly planned on seeing them more, right?

Embry looked surprised. "You've never had a nickname? Do people just call you by your full name all the time then? What about your parents, your friends?"

I turned to look out the window at the trees we drove past, the greens, browns, and grays blurring together. "I don't have a lot of friends that I spend a lot of time with. My closest friend is probably Meg, from the diner, but she has a husband and kids to take care of outside of work. My parents work a lot so I don't see them much." Great, something else that would make him think I was a little weird or maybe had some baggage.

He was quiet as he mulled my answer around. Finally he said, "I'm sorry to hear that, but now you have a new friend who has all the time in the world to hang out with you, barge in on you, and give you nicknames if you want them."

I gave him a small smile at that and he nudged my good shoulder a little. Determined to keep the moment lighter and prevent us from getting too awkward again, I asked, "Can we pretend that this morning didn't happen? I'd like to imagine that you showed up to my house and waited for me to come to the front door."

Embry barked out a laugh. "Sure thing, I knocked like a respectable man would and experienced you welcoming me graciously into your home."

I smiled over at him. "Perfect, I remember it exactly the same way."

We spent the rest of the drive to my work making small talk and shooting secretive smiles back and forth at each other.

I think I could get used to this.


End file.
